There will be a moment in the frenzy at the Estadio Azteca, probably as the teams take to the field or the first ball is kicked in anger, when Darren Thompson pinches himself to be witnessing all this first-hand.After all, it is not long since the England and Leicester City supporter was lying in a hospital bed, drifting in and out of hallucinations, and being warned what would happen if he did not stop drinking.The doctors did not beat around the bush. Quit or he would have six months to live.He made the right choice that day and, with the help of his new partner, Lisa, he recovered and vowed to fulfil a lifelong ambition. Over the last three years, he has saved the £150 he used to spend every week on alcohol and put it towards realising his dream of attending a World Cup in person.“Spain 1982 was the first World Cup I properly watched, sitting in my England shirt with my family,” Thompson, from from Hinckley in Leicestershire, tells The Athletic. “I just remember the atmosphere there on the television and seeing the crowds behind the goal and thinking to myself: ‘Wow, I want to go. I want to do that one day’.”England line up for the national anthem before their game against hosts Spain at the Bernabeu in July 1982 (Allsport/Getty Images)But work, starting a family and following Leicester up and down the country prevented him from fulfilling that World Cup dream. That and the drinking.“I am embarrassed to say the volumes I was drinking,” he explains. “I was a functioning alcoholic but, when I got divorced during the season Leicester won the Premier League title (2015-16), I lived in a flat alone and just drank myself stupid every night.